Space warfare
Space warfare is combat that takes place in outer space, i.e. outside an atmosphere. While the term is, in the 23rd century onward, almost always used to refer to space-to-space warfare, such as spaceships attacking spaceships, it also technically includes ground-to-space warfare, such as attacking spaceships from a planetary surface. It does not include the use of satellites for espionage, surveillance, or military communications. It does not technically include space-to-ground warfare, where orbital objects attack ground, sea or air targets directly, but the public and media frequently use the term to include any conflict which includes space as a theater of operations, regardless of the intended target. For example, one might describe a rapid-delivery system in which troops are deployed from orbit (see drop pods and dropships) as "space warfare", even though IMC Aerospace Force, and the US Military before them, uses the term as described above. In the early 1960s the U.S. military produced a film called Space and National Security which depicted space warfare. From 1985 to 2002 there was a United States Space Command, which in 2002 merged with the United States Strategic Command, leaving Air Force Space Command as the primary military space force. The Russian Space Force, established on August 10, 1992, which became an independent section of the Russian military on June 1, 2001, was ultimately replaced by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces starting December 1, 2011. Sometime after the colonisation of the Frontier, the IMC Aerospace Force was formed, and became the dominant force in both space and aerial warfare, maintaining a cutting edge in space technology and space logistics. Space weaponry Ballistic warfare In the late 1970s and through the 1980s the Soviet Union and the United States theorized, designed and in some cases tested a variety of weaponry designed for warfare in outer space. Space warfare was seen primarily as an extension of nuclear warfare, and so many theoretical systems were based around the destruction or defense of ground and sea-based missiles. Space-based missiles were not attempted due to the Outer Space Treaty, which banned the use, testing or storage of nuclear weapons outside the Earth's atmosphere. When the U.S. gained "interest in utilizing space-based lasers for ballistic missile defense", two facts emerged. One being that the ballistic missiles are fragile and two, chemical lasers project missile killing energy (3,000 kilometers). This meant that lasers could be put into space to intercept a Ballistic missile. Standard-issue heavy turrets can be seen on many 23rd century military spaceships, acting as close-in weapon systems to defend against incoming missiles. Missiles themselves are the primary weapon of the 23rd century spaceship. Space-based lasers Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation pumps energy into molecules, creating an electronic state that releases energy in the form of photons. The photons pass by other molecules, spreading energy, making more photons. To make an actual laser, a beam has to pass through mass quantities of laser medium by bouncing back and forth between mirrors placed at opposing ends. Then the light beam exits through one of the mirrors which is more transparent than the other. Making a functional laser requires the electrons to not only reach their excited state, but is reliant on the time it takes for them to get excited, and also the time for the energy created to reach new electrons. The efficiency of the laser relies on the amount of heat that exits. Advanced 23rd century military spaceships are known to carry laser weaponry, used mainly for orbit-to-ground attacks, especially the destruction of planetside assets.